16th June Recharging


I am currently taking a few days away from home at an event organised by the Methodist Church called ReCharge. It is something I should have attended 2 years ago but Covid got in the way and I had no desire to attempt to be rcharged via Zoom from my own study. 

So 24 months later, older but not neccessarily wiser, here I am at Yarnfield, the national BT training centre and conference venue in Stone, Staffordshire, surrounded by 1001 BT engineers in their navy uniforms and flourescent oragne Hi Viz jackets. Which to be honest is probably what Jesus will chose to wear when he finaly returns.

It is a retreat, that is not a retreat, aimed at those of us who have been in ministry for between 10-12 years or because of Covid for 12-14 years. It's a stange time constraint to select but as was said in one of the sessions it's probably the time when many ministers finally realise that perhaps ministry is not what they thought it might be. 

Having seen their first appoinment as a honeymoon period when they think they can change the world, the second as a chance to rectify all the mistakes they made in their first appointmant, the third one is simply a period to realise that those mistakes are going to be make all over again, just with different people. So just get on with it.

Out of the almost 40 people here from all over the connexion, I think I recognised two of them but as for the rest well It's like trying to recognise the C list celebrities for Dancing on Ice. Some appear to know quite a few of the other attendees and so little groups have already formed. Personally I know it takes me a while to get into the swing of these things but it has been okay rather than unpleasant or a real yawn fest that it had the potential to be.

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